Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Back to real life

Life has been busy for the last week.

I went on a long weekend vacation to Northern California and took in some much-needed baseball with a good friend. Lacy and I have been online friends since sometime in 2003. This was our first in-person meeting, but since we'd been communicating online for the better part of the past eight years, I already felt like I knew her really well. There was no awkwardness when we met up at baggage claim in the Sacramento International Airport, and I'm pretty sure we chatted non-stop all weekend until she returned me to the airport Monday morning. It was a pretty fantastic trip -- we saw three wins (including two by our beloved Rangers), had some awesome food and just had a good time in general. I'd love to go visit her again.

Lacy and me at the Rangers game in Oakland.

It was awesome to get away for a little bit, but plenty awaited me when I returned. Most notably -- my car. The day before I left for vacation, someone backed into me in the Wal-Mart parking lot. I was getting ready to leave, had backed out of my spot and was starting to go forward when I saw the truck bumper coming at me on the driver's side. It all happened in slow motion but also too fast for me to get out of the way. The driver was really nice about it all, but now my car has a hideous dent in the door.

Poor Ribbie.

The other driver has accepted 100 percent responsibility, so I've been communicating with his insurance company and the body shop to get the claim taken care of. The body shop says I need a whole new door. This could take three to four days from start to finish, so I'm going to need a rental car during this time. Not a big deal ... except that the town I live in only has one rental car place, and it's a little locally-owned set-up. Guess what? They don't have any cars this week. They expect to have one next Tuesday ... but that's only if the car is turned back in on time. Sigh. At least my car is driveable right now, but I really, really want it fixed ASAP.

After a weekend away, I'm looking forward to being home for the better part of the next three weekends. I have some home projects I want to do (taking down a wallpaper border, getting new carpet and shredding some documents). It always takes awhile to recover from vacations. I still feel like I'm trying to catch up on sleep as well. It doesn't help that my Rangers are still on the West Coast, and I've been staying up to take in their games. Ah well. I'll rest this weekend.